Steve Twombly <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>I think this is the only problem.....when is Merrimack going
>to improve?  This was supposed to be THE year, but they have
>been at or near the cellar all year once again.  Until Merrimack
>can be at least a .500 team (A ways away yet) then there will
>never be a rivalry.  And in my opinion, if Merrimack can't
>become a good team this year with their tallent and goaltending,
>then they won't be for some time to come.
 
Well, I have said a number of times that if there was to be a "year"
sometime soon, it wasn't going to be this year but next.  Very few
players will graduate this season, and the players that return will be
more experienced.  There is a much better chance that next season will
be better overall than this year, and I believed that before this
season began.
 
As far as that talent issue goes, a big problem this season has been
that the players who were to be relied upon to score goals were the
younger ones who hadn't fully developed and proven themselves.  I've
been very encouraged by what I have seen from four forwards in
particular: sophomores Gaetan Poirier, Casey Kesselring, and Martin
Laroche, and freshman Kris Porter.  All four of these players have
improved tremendously since the season began.  I look for a big second
half from them, and that should go a long way towards helping
Merrimack win the close games they lost early on.
 
So, while I won't make excuses for their showing thus far, they're
certainly not a cellar dwelling team in the usual sense of the term.
And if they had posted two wins in the close games they lost early on
to UMass (2), PC (2), and Lowell, as well as a tie with NU, then
they'd be in 5th and not 9th.  Point is, they're only two games out of
where they were picked (5th), and the games that the teams just ahead
of them have in hand are against BU and/or Maine, who Merrimack has
had to play 4x.  Only UNH has also had to play four games vs BU and
Maine.
 
I think that where the talent comes into play is that if you forget
BU & Maine, and maybe also UNH, then Merrimack is very competitive
with the other five HE teams in terms of talent level, looking up and
down the lineup.  Some teams have one or two better individual players
but not as much depth.  So why are they below those teams?  Two
reasons, and both deal with experience.
 
1) Many of the other teams are getting their scoring from seniors and
juniors, whereas if the sophomores and freshmen don't do it for
Merrimack, almost no one is going to.  The Warriors are very
inexperienced up front, and their most talented forwards have only
about a year or less of college playing time.
 
Here's something that I think proves my point about the inexperience
up front and the younger players getting better:
 
  Total goals scored by MC in first six HE games: 15  (0-5-1)
    (opponents: @PC, PC, NU, @UMass, UMass, @Lowell)
 
  Total goals scored by MC in last six HE games: 23  (2-4-0)
    (opponents: @UNH, UNH, @Maine, @Maine, BU, @BU)
 
So they've picked up more than a goal a game, against better teams,
and four of the last six games were on the road.  That goal a game
would have been enough to turn around the 0-5-1 start.
 
(of course, they've also allowed 33 in the last six after allowing
only 23 in the first six...but the record is still better.)
 
2) Merrimack's special teams have been awful so far, especially power
play.  Merrimack's PP is 9th (last) in HE, PK is 7th (was better until
the last two weeks). They've played well at even strength but lost
games on the man up situations.  Unlike the lack of scoring, this
problem hasn't shown any signs of going away yet.
 
Experience has been the main factor in their struggling thus far.
But they're still very much in the race.  However, if the next year
and a half is very similar to the first half of this year, then I will
probably agree with you that things aren't looking very good - the
experience reasoning won't wash anymore.  They've got to improve their
special teams, play a little more disciplined, and start to win the
close games.
 
BTW, despite having missed four straight games, Martin Legault
continues to have the lowest GAA in HE overall and one of the lowest
in league games, but I think that even if he returns with a strong
showing, it's going to be tough for him to repeat as an All-HE goalie.
One of the things that helped him win it last year was the performance
he had against BU and Maine.  But he's only going to be able to play
at most 2 games against those teams this season after playing 4x
against them last year.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                 [log in to unmask]           [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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